Book Author: Questions Linger in TWA Flight Crash

The ill-fated TWA Flight 800 was blown out of the sky by a submarine missile being tested by the Navy — a tragic accident that was covered up by the U.S. government, a top expert in crash scenes claims.

"[I] have Navy documents saying that they had significant Naval assets in that area that night. All of these years they’ve lied about it," James Sanders told Steve Malzberg on Newsmax TV.

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"It was a mass-seeker [missile] . . . deliberately fired. But it got away from them."

The disturbing theory comes 17 years after the Boeing 747 exploded in midair and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island, N.Y., just 12 minutes after taking off from John F. Kennedy International Airport.

All 230 people on board the flight headed to Paris were killed — the third-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history.

While the National Transportation Safety Board concluded the probable cause was an explosion of flammable fuel, there were reports from eyewitnesses that a missile had hit the plane.

Sanders — a retired police investigator who specializes in crash scene probes and is author of "The Downing of TWA Flight 800: The Shocking Truth Now Updated" — said a source told him on the night of July, 17, 1996, a Navy submarine was testing an "experimental underwater missile."

"It was all supposed to come together in what’s called the CEC Program, Cooperative Engagement Capability … [a] missile system that locks into the destroyers and cruisers and aircraft carriers and it all comes together and it works perfectly. Well, it didn’t quite work."

Sanders said FAA radar and Navy radar revealed that the missile was launched just southwest of where Flight 800 was flying overhead and immediately after the strike, a cover-up was launched.

"The Navy then redacted portions of their radar that showed the missile as it closed in on the right side of TWA Flight 800," he said.

"[But] two key witnesses saw that missile approach the right side of the plane and explode . . . where the leading edge of the right wing goes into the fuselage.

He said "a political decision" was made at the White House immediately after the crash to lie about the cause of the crash

"Politics immediately became involved and then we all know what happens when politics get involved."